Organizers of the Aug. 8 vigil said they hoped the faithful can remain solely a prayer movement so that tensions ease in the weeks long series of mass demonstrations by Hong Kong citizens opposing a controversial extradition law.

"If the world continues to do nothing, the result will be the elimination of the Christian presence," said Bishop Laurent Dabire of Dori, president of the bishops' conference of Burkina Faso and Niger.

For the first time in its 82-year history, Miracle Hill Ministries will allow Catholics to serve as volunteers and employees in its vast network of homeless shelters, thrift stores and drug-recovery programs and as parents to foster children in its government-funded foster care agency.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, said that he has no faith in the investigations to date—one by a commission and one by a committee—into the April 23 attack.

The country's Justice Department is set to open a preliminary investigation the week of Aug. 5 into sedition and cyber libel charges against church leaders.

Protests in Hong Kong have entered their eighth week and are showing no signs of abating. As the government has refused to acknowledge the protesters’ demands, tensions and tactics have escalated.